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MAELSTROM MAFFEI. 



not a man of great qualities ; but he well under- 

 stood how to employ the favours of fortune. With- 

 out strong passions and a lofty ambition ; endowed 

 with a fine taste and a sound judgment ; prudent, 

 and cool enough to do whatever he did rightly and 

 thoroughly, and sanguine enough not to shrink 

 before difficulties, and always to anticipate a liappy 

 result, but too fond of ease and pleasure to love or 

 to pursue any business, if he was not compelled by 

 necessity; of an agreeable person, gay in conversa- 

 tion, affable and generous ; inclined to rally others, 

 and equally willing to receive their attacks in 

 return; artful, and skilful in employing others for 

 his own purposes ; careful in the choice of his 

 intimate friends, but faithful and constant after he 

 had once chosen them ; and, if necessity required, 

 capable of any sacrifice ; these qualities gained 

 him the confidence of Augustus, which he enjoyed 

 uiuliminished till his death. Augustus used to 

 banter him on his effeminacy, his love for curiosi- 

 ties, precious stones and gems, his affectation in 

 mixing old Etrurian words with Latin, and making 

 new words. In return, Maecenas ventured to make 

 use of great freedom, or rather oFseverity of expres- 

 sion, as, for instance, during the triumvirate, when 

 Octavius was in the tribunal, passing many sen- 

 tences of deatli, Maecenas presented him his tablets 

 with the words, " Surge tandem, carnifex I" (Rise, 

 executioner !) a reprimand which produced its 

 effect ; and Octavius did not take offence at it. 

 When Augustus consulted with Agrippa and Maece- 

 nas, whether to retain or resign the supreme power, 

 Maecenas, in opposition to the advice of Agrippa, 

 urged him to retain it. Thus he proved, that he 

 preferred the profitable to the honourable. Maecenas 

 appears less worthy of esteem as a private man. He 

 had a palace, in the form of a tower, on the Esqui- 

 line hill, which was surrounded with splendid gardens. 

 Here, at the close of the civil wars, being about 

 forty years old, he resigned himself to indolence, 

 luxury, and frivolous pleasures. Of all spectacles, 

 he was most fond of the pantomimic dance, which 

 he himself introduced into Rome. Bathyllus (q. v.), 

 who was famous for his beauty, and his skill in this 

 exhibition, was his favourite. He was no less fond 

 of the pleasures of the palate. His indolence 

 betrayed itself in his dress, in his gait, in his manners, 

 and even in his style. He died in the year of Rome 

 745. His writings are mentioned by Seneca, Isio- 

 dorus, and others ; but none of them are extant. 



MAELSTROM, or MOSKOE-STROM ; a whirl- 

 pool in the North sea, near the island of Moskoe. 

 In summer, it is but little dangerous, but is very 

 much so in winter, especially when the north-west 

 wind restrains the reflux of the tide. At such times, 

 the whirlpool rages violently, so as to be heard 

 several miles, and to engulf small vessels, and even 

 whales, which approach it. 



M^ENADES (from paivoftai, I am mad) ; a name 

 applied to the Bacchanalians, the priestesses of Bac- 

 chus. 



MjEONIDES. (See Homer.) The Muses were 

 likewise sometimes called Maeonides, because Homer 

 was viewed as their greatest favourite. 



M^EOTIS. Palus Meeotis was the name given 

 by the ancients to what is now called the -Sea of 

 Azoph. See Azoph. 



MAESE. See Meuse. 



MAESTRICHT. See Mastricht. 



MAESTRO ; the Italian for master, and not un- 

 frequently used in maestro di capella, chapel-master. 

 Maestro del sacro palazzo is the papal censor of 

 books and the pope s confessor, a Dominican. 



MAFFEI ; a celebrated Veronese family, which 

 has produced many eminent men. 



1. Alessandro (marquis), born 1662, served under 

 Maximilian Emanuel, in the campaign against tin 

 Turks and the French, distinguished himself in the 

 war of the Spanish succession, and, after the victory 

 of Belgrade (1717), was made field-marshal, and died 

 at Munich, 1730. The memoirs which appeared 

 under his name (Verona, 1737), were written by his 

 brother, Scipio. 



2. Bernardino, born at Rome, 1514, educated at 

 Padua, created cardinal at the age of thirty-five, died 

 at the age of forty. He possessed a large collection 

 of coins, of which he made use in his lost History 

 from Medals. 



3. Francesco Scipio (marquis), born at Verona, 

 1675, studied in the Jesuits' college at Parma, 

 and went to Rome in 1698, where he devoted 

 himself to poetry, and was received into the Ar- 

 cadia. He afterwards entered the military career, 

 served under his brother, Alexander, in the Span- 

 ish succession war, and, in 1704, was present at 

 the battle of Donauworth as a volunteer. His 

 literary taste soon recalled him to Italy, where he 

 wrote his Delia Scienza chiamata Cavallercsca a 

 work full of learned research into the usages of the 

 ancients in settling private quarrels, and in which he 

 maintains that duelling is contrary to religion, sound 

 reason, and the welfare of society. To improve the 

 condition of Italian literature, the decline of which he 

 lamented, he undertook, in connexion with Apostolo, 

 Zeno, and Vallisnieri, the publication of a periodical, 

 the object of which was to criticise native works, and 

 make his countrymen acquainted with foreign litera- 

 ture. At the same time, he directed his attention to 

 the Italian drama, which he enriched by his Teatre 

 Italiano a collection of the best comedies and tra- 

 gedies (3 vols., 1723) and by his original tragedy 

 of Merope. (See Italian Theatre, in the article. 

 Italy). This production, although only a judicious 

 essay towards uniting the Greek and French tra- 

 gedy, met with the most brilliant success. His 

 comedy La Ceremonia was also brought upon the 

 stage with applause. To revive the study of the 

 Greek language, which was much neglected by his 

 countrymen, he invited skilful teachers to Verona, 

 whom he supported at his own expense. The dis- 

 covery of some important manuscripts in the cathe- 

 dral of his native city, gave his learned labours a new 

 turn, one of the results of which was Verona lllus- 

 trata (1731). Maffei's reputation had now extended 

 to foreign countries, and, in 1732, he set out on a 

 visit to France, Britain, Holland, and returned by 

 the way of Vienna, where he was received in the 

 most flattering manner by Charles VI. He died in 

 Verona, in 1755, and a monument is there erected to 

 his memory. Among his numerous works, the most 

 important, besides those already mentioned, are 

 Rime e Prose (1710) ; Istoria diplomatica ; Museum 

 I'eronense, and other writings relative to his native 

 city. His complete works appeared at Venice (1790, 

 21 vols., 4to). 



4. Giovanni Pietro, one of the most learned writ- 

 ers among the Jesuits, was born at Bergamo, in 1535, 

 went to Rome, where he became acquainted with 

 Annibal Caro, and other distinguished men, became 

 afterwards professor of rhetoric at Genoa, then 

 secretary of the republic, and, two years later, en- 

 tered the order of the Jesuits, in Rome. Having 

 published a Latin translation of Acosta's History of 

 India (1570), he was invited by Henry of Portugal 

 to Lisbon, and employed to write a general history 

 of India ; for which purpose he had access to origi- 

 nal documents in the archives. This work (Histori- 

 arum Indicarum Libri xvi.) appeared at Florence 

 in 1588 (better edition, Cologne, 1593), and is char- 

 acterized rather by beauty of style than by profound- 





